Unsatisfactory
by MistyDeath
Summary: Did he really think that a night drinking on the town was actually going to get him somewhere amazing?
1. We Smell Worse Than We Feel

_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters - they all belong to Disney and Square Eenix._

* * *

**Unsatisfactory Ch. 1**

"You know you smell like absolute shit, right?"

The mouth that was currently splaying beer-tinted saliva over the span of his neck in teasing trails stopped. Green eyes glared into his hazy blue ones.

"And you give a fuck about that…because - what? You're a girl? We're going to smell pretty disgusting by the end of this," he mouthed, nipping a bit to make a point. "Besides, when I sweat, I don't know about you, but I end up fucking _drenched. _"

As a hand slowly worked its way up against his chest to roughly unbutton his shirt, Roxas knew this was going to end one way, and after the button gave way to nowfuckthatshot fingers, he didn't give any more fucks.

The pads of his fingers were rough, calloused, and hot. Someone, somewhere, was certainly making a joke about having a _hard _working man on him, and it went somewhere along into the folder giving away fucks. Walls, colored in freelance graffiti in the strangest patterns the college student had ever seen, high or not, decorated the ceiling he was staring at. Somewhere along a yellow swirl leading into a disfigured cloud, his current bedmate was once again glaring at him.

_Fuckthoseeyeswerehot._

"Kid, are you going to go along with this? This is kind of a two-way street here, and I'm really, _really _not into the whole cadaver act," he drawled, mouth drawn in a pout, set atop Roxas in a position of a cat bored with its prey. Roxas didn't know if he was in a position of being eaten or clawed alive, didn't want to find out, either.

Reacting with a clumsy grace that was entirely unexpected, he was nearly nude within a minute, falling to the right of the apartment's owner. The rough handed, green-eyed redhead who had grabbed him by the hand somewhere in the night at a bar he'd only walked into out of boredom. If only he'd been that bored in high school, he might've gotten somewhere in the social scales of his graduating class.

Appreciative, trailing fingers crawled up and down his side, occupied mouth much attached to the body beside him. With a deep inhale, breathing through his nose just like he'd learned to do within a few minutes of his first french kiss, Roxas caught onto his earlier complaint. Both of their bodies, alone in their smoke, booze-filled clothing, would've been fine. Combined they created something that made him want to wretch, especially with that new realization that blow jobs were probably going to happen, and he would probably puke all over them.

He mumbled something along the lines of "Soap sex is intriguing" and could only chuckle in a tipsy manner at the somewhat disturbed and enticed look he received. "You want…to try to take your tipsy self," damn those hands, "into a slippery, wet box, isolated with only myself?"

"Mmmm…yeah. I'm with only you now, right?"

"You sure are curious, kid. I'll hand you that one. C'mon," following the bright red hair, holding those oh so hot hands, Roxas ended up leaning against a bathroom door; he was more than aware of his companion now - the heat pressed up against his stomach was fucking with senses - there was the shower running, the loving rasp of those rough hands, the promise of a sweet smelling version of this very same person.

The build up was a bit much, though, and a somewhat suppressed moan crawled its way out of the back of his throat. Hums, touches, appreciative smiles, it just wasn't enough. Making out against the wall while waiting for the shower to warm up just wasn't as pleasant as the bed. Or the shower, for that matter.

"Get in, I'll be," rough squeezes to both the back of his head and ass, "right back."

Glancing at the somewhat tooth-paste stained mirror to the left, Roxas was grateful he'd thought of the shower sex. His hair was worse than it'd been when he'd gotten into that bar - spiked it was, natural or not - it was a fucking catastrophe after those hands had groped it. God only knew what else was in there besides the gel. There was also a questionable mark on his neck, now.

Hmmm…That, and the fact that the strange redhead had left to get…hopefully condoms. That wasn't something he was willing to risk just yet.

Shimmying out of the boxer briefs that reminded him way too much of spandex, Roxas stepped into the hot shower, reveling in the scalding hot splashes slapping his back rhythmically. Hair plastered to his forehead, tickling the bottom of his neck, he ran an experimental hand through it, catching and pulling at the gelled mess.

He wasn't sobered up in the least bit when he heard the door open again and close quickly. "You alive in there?"

"Yeah, what d'you think, I'm a girl?" He felt the pointed look thrown at him from behind the curtain.

A hand propped the curtain open, and he loomed in, outrageous hair instantly sticking to his face comically as he leaned into kiss Roxas. Pulling back, he laughed; eyes peering through the wet mess as he placed a few lube bottles onto the tub's rim. "Please, if you were a woman I wouldn't need half this shit to save your drunk ass."

Five minutes later Roxas learned that the rough hands pruned quickly, but that really didn't matter because that tonguewasdoingfabulousthings . And although he had been the one to proposition the shower sex, the blonde was quickly regretting that decision.

Sure, he'd thought cleanliness might help save his sanity from full understanding what he was about to do. And no, it hadn't helped in the least bit, and in fact, the scent of the lube and small amount of soap in the air only covered the scent, didn't obliterate it. So as said stranger with the fabulous hands and incredibly long red hair was fingering in places that were making him slide slowly down the tile wall, Roxas was still smelling every scent that reminded him of how bored he'd really been.

Let alone the fact that the hand fingering him was also brushing its palm continuously against his balls. Fucking senses, fucking hair, fucking - hands buried in shoulders, rubbing continuously -_dontstopohpleasedontstop._

Casting a glassy-eyed look down at the man turned out to be the worst possible thing he could've done in that moment. Fingers spread wide, pressing those calloused pads into Roxas' prostate, the redhead took the cum in his mouth steadily, never looking away naught but once to choke. He didn't cry, didn't moan, didn't - anything. Though the second Roxas felt like passing out in this position, bent over the man's shoulder almost, was when the real game started.

Lips were withdrawn, and, finally he had a name to put to this talented face, "Name's Axel, by the way. Glad you're not a screamer, would've been awkward if you got it wrong _and_ if the neighbors heard."


	2. How'd We End Up This Way?

**Unsatisfactory Ch. 2**

Axel, as Roxas found out only moments ago, did really end up drenched. But that was because now they were both in a shower, where Axel was currently pressing Roxas face first into a wall.

Giving the blonde a few rubs around his entrance, Axel pressed lightly inside, which was quite considerate considering he wasn't all there. "Name?" And he had the sensibility to ask him his name before entering him? Shit - "Are you drunk at all?"

"Not too much anymore, had some water in between while finding that lube. Name?" Another brush. "Ah - ah Roxas, Roxas, alright?"

Thumb pads pressing into the small of his back, Roxas could feel drips of the water falling onto and down his back as Axel slid himself in halfway. His hand slipped from the corner of the shower, ass pressing backwards, and feet tilting up in an attempt to ease the pressure. "Shit, mmm-argh," Axel hadn't lied earlier when he said he wasn't a screamer. That didn't mean he wasn't loud in certain circumstances, but right now it was more towards breathy pants, words twisting and echoing in the small bathroom.

A few more thrusts in that position exposed the futility of how long it would last, and Axel's arm pulled the young man back towards him, backing up towards the edge of the tub. The smell wasn't so bad now, now more unnoticeable with the steam and heat of the shower, and as he was slid down onto the slippery tub bottom, Roxas realized once again that they were still in a shower.

He shook himself awake a little, Axel's cock returning back to it's previous position adding to the new adrenaline. Arms shaking, he wasn't too sure how long this position would last either. The warm buildup in his stomach wasn't going fast enough for him to consider being annoyed if he ended up half hard - right now he just wanted to pass out.

There was water dripping down into his face, pooling a bit before flowing down the shower drain. Any other time Roxas would've questioned the sex skills of someone if water in a drain was more entertaining than the current situation at hand. "Hey," those once-rough hands gripped tightly around his waist, "don't pass out on me, alright? Ah - gotta - gotta stay - ngh - with me, here." He would, but never more consciously than the state he was currently in, feeling out of place counting how many thrusts it would take Axel to finish, waiting for a chance to get out of the drizzling heat sliding its way inside and around his body.

When he did climax, the now thoroughly pruned hands made their way around Roxas' waist, holding him close and jolting the blonde's body away from its dangerously close position to smacking on the tub faucet. He was so warm…so, _soverywarm_…

Bleary glances back towards the ceiling and over his shoulder at the mass of red hair pressing itself into his back didn't give him the satisfaction he thought he'd get. The boredom had been cured, most certainly, but the perpetual state of dissatisfaction and yearning hadn't. "You feel better knowing you just had sex with a complete stranger?"

Cold breaths blew out across his back as Axel panted, chilling him and making him feel queasy; the state of being wet, incredibly over heated with small prickles of ice stabbing him repeatedly left him in a feverishly drunk state.

Removing himself from the young man, he shifted and turned the water off. The groan Roxas gave out made Axel wince in sympathy - clearly this guy wasn't having a fun time, sober or not. Shaking his hair a bit to dry off (splattering his guest with cold water droplets) he kept his grip around the blonde, heaving him up as he moved out of the shower.

"I bet you I don't smell like shit any more," he mused, letting Roxas lean against his shoulder as he grabbed a towel. Garbled mumblings of "no" and "gonna be sick" gave him about ten seconds before he threw himself over the open toilet and hurled. Well, there went any notion of Roxas being able to go home. "You want me to - uh - get your clothes at least?"

Vomiting.

"Ack - hargh - yes," the blonde head had turned around for a second, and then it was making nice with the toilet again. He heard the shuffle of probably the condom being tossed into the trash, felt a towel being draped over his shoulders, and then the steam filled room gave way to AC coming through from the living room when the door opened. Oh god, more vomit.

Roxas' stomach continued to empty itself for another ten minutes, which left him cold and nude next to his clothes on some stranger's bathroom floor for longer than he'd ever wanted. Once his body had readjusted itself, he gathered up what little of his dignity was left and set to drying and dressing himself before walking out into the apartment living room.

Axel was sitting on his black couch, flipping through the blonde's wallet in a casual ensemble of sweats and a wife beater. Confusion and anger were the first emotions to return, but they weren't able to reach his vocal chords before the redhead threw out a snarky comment of "So, Mr. Roxas Strife, age 19 and from Hallow Bastion University, wanna tell me how you made it into a club looking like pedo bait?"

What.

"Okay, clearly you had an in with someone, or did someone or something to get inside there. Because your fake looks like a piece of crap, your eyes make you look like you're twelve, and you are way too short for someone to consider you to be above 18." Roxas kept his rage under control, and even managed to gently slide onto a couch; the ill concealed smirk Axel threw his way when he wasn't able to cover up the wince was thoroughly ignored.

Some silence passed between them, once-again rough hands caressing their way over cushions to lightly trace over Roxas' own hand. Axel's hair was still dreadfully wet, Roxas noticed, the water dripping down the wife beater both over his back and down his chest. Torn between staring at his nipples in the now see-through shirt, or the intense stare in those absinthe eyes, his mouth made a move of its own. "I don't know how I got in there. I was just bored and walking around - I literally just walked in hoping to get some excitement," he laughed. "I guess I got it, huh?"

The lips that had been caressing his back earlier were now returning to their original position at his throat. He hummed, feeling a bit more satisfied now that his stomach wasn't in knots, his head wasn't in the clouds somewhere, and he wasn't threatening to pass out in a stranger's house. Teeth were worrying at his lips for a few seconds, now.

"That," he bit out, "and you stole my mouth wash." True point, "Would you rather be tasting pedo-bait vomit?" Axel snorted, wet hair now slapping light drops across Roxas' face. "No, no I wouldn't."

The redhead leaned back a bit and looked over his shoulder at a rather large analog clock decorating his wall, along with a few pieces of digital alarm clocks surrounding it. Strange, but interesting wall decorations. "It's now 3:37 in the morning," the wet hair slapped its way back across Roxas' face as he turned around, "do you want to stay, or should I drive you back to that area?"

"You expect me to leave after that? To a college bedroom, nonetheless?"

"Snarky little thing, aren't you?" Roxas gave a rough squeeze at the hand now melting his own, "Not little." Those lips were laughing again, decorating his neck in breathy, slow kisses; he hadn't expected this nice of a one-nighter (with a possible potential for more), and that consistent bored, half-asleep look was begging for entertainment. For another night, perhaps.

They would end up curled haphazardly on Axel's bed, the room directly to the right of the living room, wet hair and warm bodies effectively creating a comfortable setting. Roxas would fall asleep with a hand wrapped around Axel's, the redhead's wet hair drying out to a semi-frazzled mess tickling his face throughout the night. His legs would end up trapped beneath the bony shins belonging to the apartment's owner, waking up with small indents on either side of his calves. He wasn't entirely satisfied with this night, so that could only mean he'd have to go further with it, right?


	3. The Depravity of It All

**Unsatisfactory Ch. 3**

Roxas wasn't sure why he'd gone back.

Maybe it had been the itching feeling his shins had retained throughout the day after leaving Axel's house; or perhaps the way the man's shampoo and various other scents had lingered on both him and his clothing throughout the day. It might've been his insane curiosity as to how he'd construed such strange decorations all over his ceiling – Roxas didn't know.

However, Axel was currently fixing him some leftover coffee from the morning as they sat down in his kitchen, and Roxas could hazard a guess it might've been the eyes. Absinthe green eyes that were giving him a searching look as he leaned on the counter by the coffee machine; in any other person, Roxas would've choked and asked them if they'd bought colored contacts, but the ridiculousness of that in addition to his bright red hair just suited him. Which, now that he thought about it, Roxas wasn't sure what suited Axel at all outside of his looks; he just knew that he was a halfway decent fuck and if he hadn't been completely wasted out of his mind he might've had a good time.

"Do you want anything in this?" Roxas shrugged.

When Axel was done with his own coffee fixings he set the mug in front of the blonde and sat across from him. There were those hands again, wrapped snugly around a slightly cracked white mug in an attempt to warm up.

He was staring again, god damnit. Small little smirk edging out from his lips, a curious but also somewhat bemused expression.

"Why do you stare at me so much?"

"I could ask the same question of you, Roxas," he laughed, "is my face simply too amazing for words, or are you just a snarky little student like the rest of them and refuse to talk?"

Or he could throw insults back and forth with this guy and never get anywhere in hopes of a relationship. Then again, who actually went back to their one night stand – and what in the hell was Axel thinking by actually talking to him, he must've been at least six years older than him!

"Fine, fine. Okay, just to pique my curiosity and get an even playing field, how old are you?"

"Twenty-seven, which really says something about my generosity in letting a punk like you into my house," he mused. The blonde could feel his face fall back into its usual bored and angry gaze.

He took another sip of his coffee, swishing it around in his mouth before letting the bitter liquid down. "Alright, my turn, where are you actually from?" Simple questions, simple answers. "Twilight Town, quiet little place about thirty miles from here," Roxas sighed. It really was a quiet little town, far too peaceful for his liking and probably the reason why he'd become such a wreck when bored.

Axel's hands twittered at that statement, smile growing at the new knowledge that he had some small-town hick child in his home. Oh, he knew how to land them, he did. The teen glared at him as if reading his thoughts, "_No _I am not some hick that doesn't know why the sky is blue, so get that fucking thought out of your head." The redhead only hummed, possibly commenting, "Sure, sure, little sunshine," before being brought back to attention by a sharp kick to the table.

"Are you always so bitingly cheerful?"

"Yes, yes I am. _Clearly_ you think I'm more fun when I'm bent over your toilet puking my guts out," he drawled. His voice was certainly not as friendly as it had been the night they met, and, even then, could he have been considered friendly? He might've just been stupid, hot and obnoxious

The way the coffee was sloshing around as Axel stirred his coffee was close to making him nauseous. It was far too reminiscent of the sound of puke hitting the side of a toilet. Clearly Roxas' hangover from yesterday was coming back to haunt him when something that usually picked him up right off his feet was distracting him from what small a relationship he might have with Axel.

"Hey, are you alright?" Green eyes back again and in far too close of proximity, loomed in front of his face. Red hair was tickling his forehead and he had to question whether or not puking on the man would be considered justice.

Leaning his head back, the blonde rocked the chair at an angle that titled Axel's face down towards his chest and felt the pressure on his stomach ease. "I'm fine, and a word of caution – don't lean into someone who you think might be sick – I've done it before." Hands slid backwards onto the table and pulled them back to their original seats.

"Really now? I would've said that last night must've surely been a one time thing for you but," he held his hand up at Roxas' oncoming protest, "no I didn't mean it in that way. I meant the intense drinking fest that led you into my whims. Clearly we're sitting here for some reason, right? But if you've still got some sort of stomach issue from then either you're a drinking virgin or you caught something. Which now that I think about it, I might end up getting. Well, fuck me," he laughed.

Roxas wasn't a lightweight (he might be a bit of one with the right sort of drink – but that was another matter entirely), so he decided to put his eyes back on the laughing redhead with his mouth in a thin line. "I'm not a lightweight. Just met under the wrong, or in this case, some more interesting circumstances. What do you want to do right now – go out, sit here and shoot the shit, what?"

Axel threw the remaining contents of the coffee down, Roxas squirming slightly at the sloshing noise coming from him swishing it around in his mouth before swallowing. He yawned and gave a half-interested glance around his apartment. "Hmmm…well I'm certainly not going to be sitting around being a lazy ass right now – hopefully the coffee will hit me soon – wanna just head out and walk around downtown?"

The younger man got up and put his still-full coffee mug on the counter, nodding to himself. "Sure. Don't have much better to do and I still don't know shit about you."

"Ask away."

"I dunno – what d'you do in your spare time besides fuck people you don't know?" The snark was back, and Axel could only throw a half-hearted look of disbelief towards the blonde.

"Well," he had to think about that. He really did do other things; it was just what would actually interest Roxas that made him question the answer. He had a job working as a freelance photographer in addition to being a manager of a local clothing store (surprisingly the photography was far more of a paying job than the other, go figure) and generally hung out with some old college buddies every few weeks. Axel hadn't had a significant other in about three months, hadn't gone travelling anywhere in a bit…and he was starting to get bored by his own life now that he thought about it.

Roxas took the silence pretty well, watching the redhead mull through a closet in search of a jacket of some kind and then shuffle over to the door to find his keys. He wasn't really expecting much of an answer, but he figured paranoia would kill him in the end. The last time someone he'd slept with hadn't told him something, it had turned out they had kept a shrine of sorts of him hidden away under their bed.

"C'mon, you know the way out of here, right?"

* * *

By the time the two had arrived at the newly opened dog park close to halfway across town from Axel's apartment, Roxas was getting slightly concerned. When they passed said dog park – filled with mongrels the blonde himself would never go near – and rounded around the corner streets to a cobble stone streets, he started rethinking following the redhead unwittingly for the past forty minutes. Once they wandered even further into the cobblestone area, only to be surrounded by houses adorned with low-hanging trees constantly swatting his face, Roxas got fed up.

"Where the hell are we going, Axel?"

"A little bar I know, why?" He'd stopped by the edge of the sidewalk and was looking over his shoulder. Shooting the redhead a stern glare, Roxas groaned and kicked the edge of the street.

"A little bar you – you do know we passed about five on the way here?" Axel nodded; bright grin peeking out again from behind his normally tight mouth. "Then why is this one so special that we needed to walk about an hour to get to it?"

They crossed the street, Roxas nearly tripping over a missing cobblestone piece in the process, and arrived in front of what he could only describe as an aged classic. Aged yellow paint decorated the sides of the stucco building, complimenting the wear-and-tear look of the chipped tiles above the roof. A hand painted sign, or rather, mural, covered the second floor wall; declaring the restaurant to be called "The Tavern" with various colorful designs surrounding it. Each sidewall of the first floor had large open windows with decorative bars, the blonde saw with a curious glance, so large they opened the restaurant by at least 10 feet to open air. Slightly rusted windows decked the sides of the walls, an evergreen metal with a lock in the center.

"Because this place has been around here forever, and you don't have to worry about waiting or anything else of the sort when it's this time of the day. Locals," he explained, throwing the door open, "don't come back here for their fun until after work."

On the inside, it was a fairly modern look compared to its exterior; newly stained chairs were accenting dark tables spread throughout the large room, in addition to a fully stocked sports bar complete with large TV screens and a flag for the local football team across the way. Axel swung himself onto the booth side of a table and motioned over for Roxas to join him. He went towards the chair, and ended up blocked by the redhead's leg.

"Nope – I meant the booth – sit." He frowned, but shrugged it off and moved around to sit alongside him on the booth. Axel stretched back and threw his arms over the back of the booth, and would stay so throughout most of the meal.

A waitress came over to ask them for drinks, "Two Arnold Palmers," and that was about where Roxas realized he currently knew more about the Tavern's food menu than the man he was eating with.

"So…is this part of what you do when you're not busy prowling around looking for ass?"

"I guess, yeah. A couple of my friends and I come back here every so often to relax, and this was the first place I thought of – why, too weird?" The questioning look was back again, and he'd probably need to reconsider the seating arrangement if the man's hand was going to continue lightly stroking the back of his neck like that.

He supposed he could blame the AC.

"No – not at all. Just curious about the journey, didn't expect such a hike to get food if that's what you wanted…but I guess I'm hungry now, aren't I?"

"Hmm…"

Sometime between considering the option of a steak wrap or the healthier option of a protein salad (something involving eggs and cashews thrown in with…everything?) Roxas realized his question from before still hadn't been answered.

"I'm a freelance photographer with the occasional interest in retail, and besides that, just doing whatever the hell I feel like that keeps me alive." A…retailing…photographer. How had he found this guy, again?

Drunken sex. Right.

At the disbelieving look on Roxas' face, Axel stopped mid-sip on the second drink - which he had so conveniently been drinking during the blonde's spacing out. "What – like a kid struggling with the qualms of _college_," heavily accented sarcasm, "is doing better? Let me guess, you've got a part-time job off of work-study or some other shit like that."

Roxas rolled his eyes, swiping his drink back from Axel with a none-too-annoyed look. "I _am_ on work-study – I work at a freakin' college library for the shittiest pay I've ever received," he commented. The redhead snorted. "But," oh the interest was piqued, was it, "I've gotten a paid internship with a publishing company," he laughed.

"Paid internship – oh big stuff, aren't you?"

"It's 10K for a year – not bad, huh?" Axel shrugged, eyes staring off into the restaurant, a local game reflecting off the empty glass he'd put to his lips out of habit.

"Yeah, yeah. Everyone thinks it's awesome to land of those – until you're seeing your hard work and effort being passed off as someone else's and all you got was a meager 10K when the publishing company made millions off of it," he laughed. Roxas finished his drink, shrugging the comment off with a wave.

"I'll get pissed off when I get to that – all I want is enough money to pay for what my parents decided to conveniently drop out of 'giving'". The waitress collected their drinks in a timely matter, handing them small platters while she took their orders, "It's all about what you know and who you know to get you the best deal. It's like what I did for the past four years for a job – work at an ice cream parlor for the summer."

Axel chuckled at the comment, hand bumping the back of Roxas' hair with the effort of him throwing himself back into the back of the booth. "An ice cream parlor – oh my – that is _priceless_. I feel like I picked up the someone's lost pedophile bait!" Really, how long was this guy going to make fun of him for? The fool knew he was nineteen, knew him well enough (or at all) to know that yes, getting wasted was a fun hobby they shared, and that he'd been able to find the redhead's place again simply on an address and no other directional help outside of drunken memories.

The hand bumped his hairline again, and this time stayed, thumb brushing slightly over the base of his neck in a far-too-reminiscent way. He shivered and shrugged the hand off. "You're strange – you know that, right?"

"I don't know, kid – I'm in a tavern with someone who looks eight years too young to be in here, and dabble in commercial retail and photography in addition to browsing nightclubs to satisfy whatever craving I have. I'd say that's rather normal for this day and age, don't you think?"

Slightly irked at the "kid" comment, Roxas shrugged his silence, grateful for the arrival of food to distract his current tormentor. They ate in moderate silence, throwing an occasional glance toward one another with tritely imprinted comments such as "how's the food" or "did they really charge _this _much for this?" Roxas' food had turned out superior to Axel's choice of a wild mushroom pie; so much so that he took pity on the redhead and let him steal a bit of the steak wrap ("I am paying – right? Either way, I'm still taking some,"). Dealing with the thievery by reciprocating the action, the blonde remembered that mushrooms were truly the worst food in the history of all kind, and no amount of attractive convincing from Axel could prove otherwise.

* * *

They had chatted – given little tidbits of information about themselves to one another over food such as friends, previous schools – while waiting for the check to come their way. The hand that had irked him in the beginning had come back, now slightly colder because of the drinks; still ticklish, still confusingly comforting for a person he'd known for three days total. Axel had jokingly laughed that he should've stuck with his usual meal there, and Roxas bit back a retort involving food thievery. Still, the redhead had paid, as he said, waving off any thanks and shrugging it off like it was something he did everyday; which, for all Roxas knew, it was.

Roxas could've made the assessment that Axel was a boring person; he could've given up after the food and walked away from the photographer with a fake promise to meet up again later. In fact, Roxas had been halfway to ditching the man when he went to the bathroom before they left. He chose, instead, to gratefully accept the invitation back to the apartment.

He realized not long after Axel's arm had draped itself over his shoulders that he would've had a horrible time getting his bearings in the area; the streets were overrun with weeds in places, long trees hung over the sidewalks – casting a cool shadow over the housing area nearby, while the street signs showed varying levels of legibility.

"Ever think about what your neighborhood would look like if it was left alone for a few years?"

The blond shrugged; head tilting sideways as the redhead ducked an overhang of moss. "Well, that's what happened here – some beat up ghetto of Hallow Bastion got left behind and then restored," he explained.

"Huh, that's pretty interesting. And you know this because…?"

"Once you visit this area, or really that bar, enough, the locals will tell you the story of how this area got to be so drastically different from the big city."

"So you've been visiting this area for a while?" "Well I just said I spent most of my college years here, didn't I? I would've moved to this area alone but it's a bit far from where I work and I'm just not ready for that commitment. Rather make this a get-away instead of an area I might grow to despise."

"That makes sense, I guess. Sort of how people like to escape to go drinking every once in a while, except yours is more…"

"Socially acceptable and not resulting in toting around someone nearly ten years my junior after a drunk fuck?" Roxas' withering glare was met with a lopsided grin holding a promise of something he wasn't sure he'd reciprocate. "Are you planning on making fun of me until I drop you – or what?" Axel shook his head, humming a little while throwing them under some more overhanging moss down towards the general direction of his apartment. "Then is there a reason for the unsettling pedophile comments? Even though I'm clearly of age and going to a university that's far more renowned than your little hide-away bar?"

The pair ended up stopping at an intersection, Roxas still silently pissed but not entirely uncomfortable while Axel just seemed to enjoy taking the mickey out of him. Cars were passing by at an alarming speed that had scared the blond half to death earlier in his freshman year, but nowadays he took the insanity with a grain of salt and swearing profusely at the shit driving the city displayed. Was it acceptable to cross the clearly marked yellow lines and take U-turns in areas where there were pedestrians trying to cross? Somehow, someone found it all right to look the other way and hope that the accident happening was a tourist being stupid.

An eighteen-wheeler made a turn by them and Roxas had to strain to hear even the faintest recognition of words out of the redhead's mouth.

"What?!"

"I said you're just too rich not to, you fool. It's cute, not gonna lie to you; and it's been a while since someone actually managed to find my house again to actually talk to me and not rob my fancy ass," he said, chuckling. "…Your place isn't fancy. It's just awkward – who tries to create cookie-cutter apartments in the slums of a city?"

Axel pulled Roxas closer to him, arm bending and pressing something awful in between his shoulder blades. "Because they know there's some unsatisfied sucker out there who thinks they're being an original shit by building _such_ a nice place surrounded by 'the epitome of Hallow Bastion's finest inspirations' or some bull crap like that," he said in an mocking awestruck voice, right arm going out and waving as if displaying the adjacent sidewalk.

"What if it's just an extremely slow attempt to redo the neighborhood?"

"Maybe. But then I can't photograph the area with hatred and meaningless angst towards the depravity of it all," he whined, eyes betraying the sarcasm behind the surprisingly genuine sounding statement.

"Right. Fucking artists and their penchant for the dramatic."

The redhead shoved the laughing blond across the street once the crosswalk was cleared, muttering half-assed obscenities and insults towards the general republic of "Asshole Writers Who Think They're Above It All."


	4. Saturday Night Lies

**AN:** Alright guys so it's been a little while since I updated...glad to see some people are interested in this nonsense. This is really my first successful lengthy fan fiction so thank you for following along. As per usual, _Kingdom Hearts_ and all it's characters belong to Disney and Square Eenix.

* * *

**Unsatisfactory Ch. 4**

Sitting across from his best friend/roommate and his other friend, Roxas considered the consequences of telling them what had happened the previous weekend. The three of them were outside the university at a local café for a late lunch; his roommate, Sora, was currently indulging himself in a large meatball sub while his best friend, Riku, was looking through emails while eating a pasta dish.

Now, considering that Sora was best friends with Riku, many wondered how the brunette had ended up getting paired with Roxas. Riku, a year above them, had recently become an RA in order to get back what little privacy he could. So, come their freshman year, the two had both walked into the dorm room and somewhere along the way became close friends.

"So Rox, what'd you end up doing this weekend? You left Friday night and only came back…for what – "

"Maybe fifteen minutes or less on Saturday to shower and then leave again, leaving this idiot in despair for the weekend," Riku finished. Sora glared at the junior, before turning to Roxas with an expectant face. He laughed.

"Oh, just went out to a club Olette recommended and uh…don't really recall much of the night besides that. Still don't understand what happened, which is why," he emphasized, staring Sora down, "I went back all Saturday to find my wallet again." He was getting pretty good at coming up with lies on the spot.

The brunette threw him a teasing smile. "So, did you find someone attached to your wallet, or what? Because you didn't come back until –"

"No, asshole. It took me a while to remember the bar name, all right? You know how it is downtown; they all seem the same and have the same god damned bright lights…" he trailed off in frustration. Sora nodded in sympathy while Riku merely hummed, still scanning his email. The blonde poked the back of his laptop with the back of his straw.

"Hey, Riku. What's with the sudden love for your laptop? Aren't you usually the one spouting bullshit about face-to-face conversation while eating?"

He got a frown in response. "Shut up, Sora told me about a job offer and I'm supposed to get a reply today." Roxas glanced at Sora.

"He wants to go abroad next semester, so he wanted some high paying job that would deliver fast…My neighbor's a manager for a modeling agency and –" Roxas choked on his soda.

Recovering from the dramatic response, he brought himself up to skeptical looks. "What, I'm sorry – am I the only one that finds this fucking ridiculous?" More blank faces. "Alright, I guess I am…continue on," he laughed.

"Like Sora said, his neighbor back home sometimes takes trips up here to scout and she was able to recommend a local photographer to get me started – laugh your ass off all you want but when I'm the one rolling in money because of –" he was caught off when his laptop pinged. The insistent scrolling started once more and Roxas could see a smile on his face. Sora leaned over to his right, eyes squinting as he began to read the email.

"What?"

"Well, she got the guy she wanted…said he's been a bit out of modeling area for a few years…works downtown… but he'll do the job. Shit – it's at six!"

Roxas frowned. "Why is tonight a problem?" "Well, that clock says five, and I don't understand downtown for shit…you!" Sora pointed at him.

"Yes?"

Sora turned the laptop around, nearly hitting the contents of Riku's pasta all over the table, and pointed at the address. "You said you were downtown – where is this?" Riku, clutching his leftover pasta, quickly ate the remains and threw the container out.

"Sora – I was between blackout and halfway drunk," he commented dryly, "I doubt I'll recognize –"

[Axel Wintson. 13800 CRESTFALLEN BLVD. HALLOW BASTION. 487.399.0655]

He choked on the soda, again. Well…fuck. "What now?" Riku sighed. He shook his head, "Nothing at all - I know where that is. Exact location, actually." Sora smiled at him, holding a hand out. "He's reliable, just like I said!"

Riku raised a doubtful eyebrow at Sora's comment, having been on the receiving end of many of Roxas' shortcomings in the past two years. He shrugged. "Whatever, So. Alright, can you give me a ride there?"

He thought about refusing; the world had this lovely invention called a GPS nowadays and it wouldn't take long for Riku to walk back to his own car on campus. And, Roxas was pretty sure he didn't want the two to find out exactly _how _he knew the location of the office. In fact, he was certain of it. As far as the majority of the student body of HBU was concerned, Roxas was a heterosexual male with no affinity for experimentation, and he wanted to keep it that way. Although there was the temptation to see how Axel worked…but that might lead to…hmm.

This consideration ran through the blonde's head in silence, and Riku and Sora were staring at him for the entire five minutes it took him to process the pros and cons. He eventually got up to throw his now-empty soda out along with his sandwich wrapper and walked back to the car, waiting for the other two to join up.

"Hey! Asshole!" He could hear the two scrambling to toss their things together in an effort to follow him – it was amusing, to say the least. So were the reactions he got when they saw his incredibly cliché pose leaning up against his car waiting for them. Riku was strolling along behind Sora's rushed dash to the car, brunette near-crashing into the side of the vehicle. He snorted.

"Ow…don't laugh, jerk. Don't just do that," he grumbled.

"Whatever, I'll take you there. Your round-trip ticket there costs all of…" he thought of just how long the ride was – maybe about thirty minutes each way, "ten dollars in gas money." Riku threw his hand into a pocket, scavenging for a few minutes before pulling out a crinkled five. "There, you get the other half when we're going back."

"No problem." Sora grinned and hopped in the passenger seat. "Woo! Road trip!" Roxas laughed and thought about whether or not he should send Axel a warning text. Pulling out of the parking lot and towards the highway, he decided against it with the amount of traffic he saw. "Well…we're going to be in for a long ride, guys."

"Eh. You've got a radio, right?"

* * *

Axel was currently setting up his apartment/office for the appointment he'd agreed to. It had taken quite a bit of bargaining on Yuffie's part and had involved several food products becoming life supply for him at her whim. Not that he couldn't use the money; it was just that he'd been out of the modeling business for a while and hadn't really seen the appeal in it – doing the same sort of portrait, pose, whatever – for either portfolios or the occasional local ad.

So he had called over his friend Demyx, who happened to be in the business just over in Radiant Garden, to help him out.

The dirty blonde was walking around and setting up the backdrop for the photos while Axel fiddled with his cameras. Normally Axel would've been the one working with the lighting, but there was no way in hell he'd let Demyx touch his babies. The man had a seriously unhealthy relationship with hair gel and was constantly combing his fingers through his lovechild of a Mohawk and mullet. No way were those greasy hands touching his equipment.

"So, what've you been up to since the last time I came by – like five months ago?"

He flitted through old photos and organized them away into another card to be used for later. "Same old, same old. This is the first time in a while that I'm doing this…been mostly managing that store down a few streets and shooting landscapes or whatever someone needs for a company," he muttered.

Demyx positioned one of the boards up against the cleared out living room's wall. They had managed to move the ornate glass table, and two of the large armchairs to the kitchen and hallway, and taken down the clocks to place them delicately on Axel's bed in the other room. The only thing in the black living room was Axel's sofa, currently housing all of the redhead's equipment and SD cards.

"No, Axel. I mean like, socially. Or," he laughed, "Have you finally calmed down?" The teasing tone the blonde had taken on went over Axel's head – he was struggling to find a spare card to use for the shoot.

"Huh?" 2007, 2008…2011…did he have any new ones? He could've sworn that he just went out and bought like five. Regardless of what anyone told Axel, deleting photos and reusing memory cards just wasn't his style; sure he edited and deleted a few here and there, but he liked to keep everything he could and just buy another. It was a chaotic organization that he'd picked up in school thanks to his forgetfulness and losing every card he had.

"I said did you finally calm down. You know, partying like the freshman frat boy we all know and love?" Axel smirked. "No…haven't really stopped that. Just did something along those lines this weekend, as a matter of fact."

The other man chuckled, pushing the last board into place before walking over to the couch where Axel was sitting on. He picked up a box and placed it in his lap before turning to Axel.

"Oh really? Do tell," he beckoned his hand towards himself.

"Not much to tell outside of a usual story and that this one didn't end with the one night stand," Axel explained, hand now grasping a new SD card and working to put it into the Canon. Demyx sighed, "Oh c'mon…girl, guy, height, weight, hair color – details man! I might actually meet them!"

Axel cocked an eyebrow at that comment.

"No, you probably won't. Trust me." The man put the box on the ground and poked him. "Liar. Tell me." Really, Axel was wondering if he would even see Roxas again. Sure, the kid had said he would call him again – but he'd heard that before and never seen them again – so he wouldn't get his hopes up.

"Tell meeeeee," he whined.

Axel got up from the couch and started to set up the camera on the tripod, ignoring Demyx in favor of finishing up for the client.

"Axel, c'mon you can't just –"

"Give me five fucking seconds and you'll get your story!"

By the time Axel had finished the setup, Demyx had somehow thrown his weight around in the kitchen and fixed them coffee - coffee that had been sitting there for about four hours…but coffee nonetheless. Or that's what Demyx thought, smiling away excitedly as he thrust the microwaved drink in Axel's hand. The other photographer was less than impressed, but took the mug anyway.

Taking a long sip, the redhead considered his options – tell him the whole bloody thing like he usually did, just give him the basic details, or tell him to go fuck himself and mind his own business. Well, option number one wouldn't work because he had someone coming in within the next ten minutes, and he did feel like sharing _something_…and really regurgitating the foul shit Demyx had fixed him wasn't a proper reply.

"Fine. You get your basics – guy, blonde and blue-eyed, probably five foot…four? And god I don't know, I could toss him over my shoulder easily," he offered. Demyx hummed happily. "And do I get a name? Or rather, did you _catch_ a name?"

"Roxas."

"Well, glad to know we aren't the only suckers out there with weird-ass names. Jeez he sounds like some poor boy-band wannabe – no offense!" His hands went up at the glare he got from Axel. "He's not. Definitely not. Drinks like a fucking pro, can't handle it for fucking shit, though..." he mused.

Demyx put his mug down after taking a sip (and Axel saw that it was pretty full) before leaning back into the couch and relaxing. Then he perked up. "Age?" Well there was a sour question…

"Nineteen." He ignored the sound of coffee being spat out across his highly expensive carpeting. Ignored, but not forgotten - that move would come back to haunt Demyx in due time.

Demyx continue to choke and laugh on his expensive surroundings for a few more seconds before Axel decided to punch the blonde into shutting up. He received a pained grunt and glare as thanks. "Are you serious? _Nineteen? _Are you turning into some creepy old entrepreneur with a gaggle of mistresses? Sorry, not mistresses – boy toys – but still how the fuck -"

"No, you dickwad! We were both drunk as fuck, sorry sex came before twenty questions mom…" he sighed, before turning on him, "And that is highly legal, unlike your little charade with what's-his-face from that photo gallery when we were like, 16. " Demyx had the decency to look ashamed and somewhat flustered at the comment. "Shut up – he was like 22 – and we were in a state where that was legal –"

The doorbell rang, and Axel sighed in relief. Now he could get to work and hopefully Demyx would share the sentiment.

"I'll get it!" Or not. He watched Demyx hop up from the sofa and leap over the divider between the living room and kitchen, walking up and looking through the peephole in his front door.

"Hey, I think it's your one-night stand kid – and he brought some other – holy shit that guy is hot." Axel frowned; what the hell was Roxas doing here? He ran over to the door and shoved Demyx to the side before he could do feasible damage.

Opening the door, he was met with Roxas and two other guys. One was dressed in a plain dress shirt and black slacks much like himself; the other was dressed just as casually as Roxas in a t-shirt and jeans. "Hey! What's with the surprise?"

Roxas took one look at Axel's half-assed professionalism of a white shirt, black slacks and converse and fought the urge to laugh. He didn't expect much, but then again he'd never seen Axel in a work environment. "My friend was apparently lucky enough to land an appointment with you," he threw a thumb back towards Riku, who waved at him, "and I felt sorry for them not knowing where your fine establishment was at."

The redhead waved genially at Riku, noting that yes, that was the kid in the photos Yuffie had emailed him. He didn't miss the sarcasm in the blonde's voice, and the urge to throw back the dirtiest retorts was heavily thrown down by the necessity to work and get paid. "Right. So, Riku, why don't you come in and we'll get started," he paused and looked at Roxas and the brunette next to him, "and…you two are…?"

"Going." The brunette gave Roxas a look but didn't say anything.

"Alright then, Riku," Axel threw a hand over his shoulder, "my partner Demyx is somewhere in the set up and he'll help you get sorted out – and I'll see you later," he pointed at Roxas, "I'm assuming you're his ride?"

"Yeah. See you later," Riku waved to the other two as they walked back towards the elevator and walked into Axel's apartment, noticing right away the spiky haired blonde sitting in the small setup in the living room. He was keeping as straight a face as possible for Axel's sake, because chances were that no one besides the pair knew how exactly the two had met.

Riku walked up to the area, gave a small glance around, and then began sorting through his bag for his file. "So, uh, I'm totally new at this stuff. Yuffie just said I was going to have to hand you this," he pulled out the small manila folder she'd handed him, "and she said you'd be okay to work with that?" Demyx nodded, taking the folder and putting it on the table, knowing that Yuffie generally just jotted down what she wanted him for – the blonde guessed that Riku would end up being editorial if he played his cards right – and how many shots of what poses, etc.

He smiled at the kid. "Well obviously you're brand new if you've come to this asshole for the job."

"Demyx I swear to god if you're already trashing my work and trying to steal my clients you aren't welcome back," groaned Axel from the kitchen. He was currently cleaning the coffee mugs hastily in an attempt to calm down. Riku's eyebrow rose at the comment, but he said nothing and waited patiently while the redhead walked over.

Demyx laughed and shook his head, "Nothing wrong with a little friendly competition." He opened the folder and glanced over the requests that Yuffie had made, holding a sheet up for Axel to look through for the dimensions. He looked them over, mouth clicking in resignation at the bland necessities.

"Alright kid. We're going to do a couple of face shots, some full body ones…and huzzah! I can take you outside to do some shit if I want to," he read off. He looked over at Demyx. "You can do the basic makeup for this lighting, right?"

Riku looked back and forth between the two as they discussed whatever it was they needed to talk about. From the outlandish hairstyles the two were sporting he had some serious questions but figured they were better left unsaid until he knew them better. However…

"Hey, uh…Axel?" He looked up from the makeup that Demyx had now thrown over his table. "Yeah?"

"Not to sound rude or anything but how long is this going to take? I just want to make sure that Roxas is actually going to be able to pick me up," he really hated making people wait. The photographer looked up at the ceiling, frowning in concentration. "Uh…I'm going to guess around three hours? Yeah?" The blonde nodded.

Oh. "Alright then. Just uh…let me know what you want me to do," he offered. Riku honestly had no idea what he was doing and he could only hope that these guys really understood that.

Axel smiled at him. "Don't worry, just relax for a little bit and let Demyx here decide whether or not you're going to look about five shades lighter than you really are."


End file.
